Sevenstar Race - Artemis extends lead

by Event media on 12 Aug 2006 Jonny Malbon’s Open 60, Artemis Ocean Racing, continues to extend her lead in the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race as she grinds out the mileage on a long two-sail fetch to the Shetland Islands.

With speeds in excess of 11 knots and her sheets eased, Artemis Ocean Racing, is now just 930 miles from the finish and will shortly be at the mid-point in this 1700 mile race. Conditions overnight however for the leader were testing as the wind dropped from 30 knots to around 5 knots with big swings in the wind – possibly the first sign that the relentless winds and sea-state of the last 48 hours could be about to change.

J-P Chomette’s Nacira 60 Solune leads the chasing yachts behind Artemis Ocean Racing some 77 miles astern with Ger O’Rourke’s Kingspan-Chieftain, the New Zealnd built Cookson 50, that sailed on the Australain circuit last year, still on top of the predicted corrected time honours in IRC Division A, holding third place on the water.

It has been another tough 24 hours for the bulk of the fleet behind the leaders with gear damage taking its toll. The young crew on the Farr 45 Unlimited/John Merricks had to contend with a torn mainsail and put their newly acquired sail-making skills to the test in the most extreme conditions whilst on Jaguar Logic the ongoing saga of a broken jib lead car was finally resolved when skipper Pete Summers requisitioned a bolt from another part of the yacht.

Aside from the tough conditions, many of the crews have reported seeing some fabulous wildlife up the west coast of Ireland alongside some stunning scenery and glorious moonlit sailing conditions at night.

For the all-girl crew of Global Yacht Racing EH01 it’s been a tough day as they have been forced to retire from the race owing to a Racing Rules of Sailing Rule 41 infringement (outside help) as they made repairs to their rigging in Cork this afternoon. The girls will, however, continue their voyage around the course to fulfil their sponsorship commitments raising money for Sail 4 Cancer and the RORC wishes them all the very best for the rest of their trip.

Leading positions at racetime 04:00:30 - 11 August 2006, 6:30pm:

1 Kingspan - Chieftain Gerard O'Rourke Ireland 35nm SW of Flannan Isles  
2 Minnie the Moocher Anthony Richards U.K. 69nm N of Black Rock  
3 Formidable 3 Piet Vroon Netherlands 73nm SW of Flannan Isles  
4 Noonmark VI Mike Gilburt U.K. 126nm N of Black Rock  
5 Artemis Johnny Malbon U.K. 78nm NE of Flannan Isles  
6 Solune Jean-Philippe Chomette France 5nm SW of Flannan Isles  
7 Norddeutsche Vermogen Hamburg Volker Linzer Germany 97nm N of Black Rock  
8 Unlimited Sailing - John Merricks U.K. 104nm N of Black Rock  
9 Magnum II Andrew Pearce U.K. 27nm NE of Black Rock  
10 Alice 2 Mike Henning U.K. 32nm N of Black Rock  


Quotes from around the yachts:

Richard Klabbers from Sevenstar Yacht Transport onboard WINSOME
Now that the SRBI is well on its way and everybody got used to the not so comfortable circumstances a note from the sponsor. First of all I am happy to congratulate all competitors which are still in the race. The last couple of days have not been easy especially not for the smaller boats and crews. Though the fastest boats of the fleet are close to the half way mark, the smaller boats are still hundreds of miles away. It is an achievement however for all boats to complete this race and bring the race to a successful end. Let’s just hope the circumstances will allow us. I wish you all good luck. What surprises me is the large scale of wildlife we see on our way. The number of birds of all kinds and the occasional dolphin are a real joy for us. It gives some distraction from the ever pounding (still) too short waves.

We are at present making our way upwind along the Irish coast in a N-NW breeze of 20 knots. The sea is a bit kinder to us than the last couple of days though still not as promised in the holiday brochure. We start to wonder what these bags with spinnakers are actually doing on board. Will they ever been used? We just hope we will need them still after the Shetlands. Besides all this the mood of the crew is excellent, could not wish for a better crew. Nothing damaged as of yet and still in the race so why complain? I wish all competitors success with the remainder of the race. Stay out of trouble and arrive safely at Cowes. See you there.

Artemis Ocean Racing
We have reached day four on our voyage round Britain and Ireland and the conditions have changed significantly. The breeze yesterday dropped all day from 30 knots gusting during the morning right off to 5knots last night. However the 30 knots seemed a little easier as last night we spent most of it dealing with 50 degree wind shifts and wind speeds of 5 knots trying to keep the boat moving in very light conditions to the Flannan Isles. Some might say we our mad but in conditions of 30 knots its easy just to keep to a straight course rather than in the light we have to constantly re trim the sails and play with keel angle in order to keep the best performance out of the boat. Ian our journalist from the Daily Telegraph has regained a smile now and has even commented that this is 'his type of sailing'.

We have just managed to pass the Flannan Isles at 1030 BST. Quite a bleak rock for whoever manned it before it turned automated. However the scenery is stunning up here. Last time I went sailing round the Scottish isles was about 12 years ago with the ocean youth club out of Belfast when we used to go cruising over to Jura and up to Mull. I'd forgotten quite how much wildlife there was up here. Looking at the latest position report it shows that all our hard work has paid off to this point. As off the 1030 position report we have increased our lead over Solune to 62 miles and chieftain to 100, and hopefully now that we have turned to the corner to Muckle Flugga and bore away to a reach we will be able increase our lead more over the next 24 hours.

Unlimited Sailing / John Merricks: Ripped sail stalls progress
On the morning of day four in the Round Britain and Ireland Race, Farr 45 Unlimited / John Merricks have faced their first major repair after their main sail split while sailing up the west coast of Ireland. 'We’ve had a bit of drama on deck this morning,' 22 year-old Connor Myant from London reported. 'We went to put another reef in the main and the main sail suddenly ripped.' Ed Hill of Guildford was quick to get out the repair kit and test his recently learned sail mending skills. 'We got all the sails down and Ed got to work,' Myant continued. 'An hour later, following some spray glue, patching, kevlar strips and some hand stitching we’re back in action and running at full speed. 'We had quite a good turnaround and didn’t lose too much time with the repair and now we’re back to fetching towards the Shetlands. We’re still hoping the wind will shift around so that we can get the boat on a reach. She really enjoys a good reach and we’re hoping to get her going. 'We were a bit disappointed when we learned that we lost a place a couple of nights ago, but our goal for this trip was to be competitive by simply finishing the race which will be a major accomplishment. I think the whole crew is chuffed just to be out here and to still be leading the majority of the fleet.'

Jaguar Logic update - 9pm: Thursday 10 August
We’re just passing Bull Rock heading north but into some foul tide. I guess Puma Logic is further west and has less foul tide, so pulling away. We’ll be chasing hard! Everyone is settling down into the watches now and while some have been ill, that seems to be passing and everyone is in good spirit, especially seeing how well we’re doing. The last couple of days have been excellent weather and good progress. Food has been fantastic, so many thanks to Allie for doing such a wonderful job there. Some fantastically beautiful sunsets and moonrises have been witnessed as well as the o